Travels with Palin S03E02 · Pole To Pole: Russian Steps

Overview

In Leningrad Palin meets up with a Vladimir Lenin impersonator, who gives him a tour of the city. He witnesses a Russian Orthodox baptism ceremony, and almost gets baptised himself. He visits the cemetery where the likes of Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky are buried, then has the honour of firing the noonday gun at the Peter and Paul Fortress. After buying some pears at a local market he experiences the difficulty of trying to buy a bottle of vodka in a super market which is “uncontaminated by food”—a reference to Monty Python's Cheese Shop sketch. In Novgorod, he meets up with a director who casts him in a movie. Then he is invited to a dinner party, eating freshly caught crayfish and drinking twenty-three toasts, the tipple being homemade vodka. After participating in a ceremony on behalf of the sister city of Watford (portrayed as a dream) he visits the town of Chernobyl, Ukraine, scene of the 1986 nuclear disaster.

Torrents

Subtitles

Episodes

1. 1 1. Pole To Pole: A Cold Start1992-10-21 · 37mPalin begins at the North Pole, flying there on a small aeroplane fitted with skis. (The North Pole scene had to be filmed earlier than the rest of the journey due to weather issue
2. 2 2. Pole To Pole: Russian Steps1992-10-28 · 37mIn Leningrad Palin meets up with a Vladimir Lenin impersonator, who gives him a tour of the city. He witnesses a Russian Orthodox baptism ceremony, and almost gets baptised himself
3. 3 3. Pole To Pole: Mediterranean Maze1992-11-04 · 37mArriving by ferry to Istanbul, Turkey, Palin stays at the Pera Palas, where Agatha Christie wrote Murder on the Orient Express and experiences a turkish bath, getting the full trea
4. 4 4. Pole To Pole: Shifting Sands1992-11-11 · 37mArriving in Wadi Halfa, Sudan, Palin boards a train bound for Khartoum, the capital. There he receives some bad news: he will be unable to journey further south into Sudan due to t
5. 5 5. Pole To Pole: Crossing The Line1992-11-18 · 37mIn the old Ethiopian capital of Gondar Palin visits the former home of Emperor Haile Selassie, as well as his pet lion. From there he visits Lake Tana where he learns that one of h
6. 6 6. Pole To Pole: Plains and Boats and Trains1992-11-25 · 37mIn Kenya Palin takes a hot-air balloon ride. On the ground he observes a lioness and her cubs up close. Then it is on to Tanzania, where he fulfills a lifelong dream by visiting th
7. 7 7. Pole To Pole: Evil Shadow1992-12-02 · 37mIn Zambia Palin meets a witch doctor who tells him that he has an "evil shadow" and bad things lie ahead for him. He then is given a tree bark to "wash" with. This is supposed to h
8. 8 8. Pole To Pole: Bitter End1992-12-09 · 37mDespite being unable to reach Antarctica via the Agulhas, all is not lost for Palin. A travel adventure company is able to take Palin to the South Pole from their base in Chile. Th